Sounds Around Town: Music and musicians from Iceland (and Boston) come to the Paradise

Wednesday

Feb 28, 2018 at 2:46 PMFeb 28, 2018 at 3:35 PM

By Ed Symkus

At the age of 23, Jofridur Akadottir (don’t even think about trying to pronounce it correctly, but “Yo FREE der” will do) is a veteran of Iceland’s pop music scene. She and her twin sister Asthildur (nope, no easier to pronounce) have been playing instruments since they were 8, following in the footsteps of their classical clarinetist mom and their avant-garde trumpeter and experimental electronic composer dad.

Though Asthildur stayed with keyboards, when they were 11, Jofridur, while still studying classical clarinet, moved on to electric guitar, then started writing songs. Maybe it was her enjoyment of listening to the Beatles, the Cranberries, ABBA, and Bob Marley, but her interest swayed from classical to pop. By 13, the sisters were performing her songs in front of audiences in Reykjavik; by 14, they had made their first recording as the folk duo Pascal Pinon. Jofridur soon also became part of the electronic trio Samaris, then joined the uncategorizable musical collective known as GANGLY.

But a couple of years ago, she and her music took new directions: a solo project she calls JFDR, a mostly laid-back mix of repetitive guitar, minimalist keyboards, and ethereal vocals. JFDR comes to Boston as part of the annual Reykjavik Calling concert, taking place at the Paradise on March 9. Jofridur, who moved to New York a year ago, and put out her first solo album, ”Brazil,” spoke about her music and her busy career by phone, while walking through her Brooklyn neighborhood.

“I asked for that guitar for Christmas when I was 11 because I just thought it was a cool instrument,” she said. “But I was a very bad singer when I was young, even though I really wanted to do it. I remember when I was 10, and wanted to take singing lessons, I would get these cassette tapes and bring them home, and my sister would make fun of me. She would put on those tapes and just laugh.

“She was very mean to me at the time,” she added, with a laugh. “But now she’s chill, and we’re fine.”

Jofridur won’t come out and say that she’s all through with her previous bands, just that “we’re on a break from all that.” But she’s going full steam ahead with JFDR, doing a concert here and there, reworking older songs into new presentations, and enjoying performing tracks from “Brazil,” which was released last year and was a result of her coming to New York.

“I started going to New York in 2015,” she said. “I was working with the producer Shahzad Ismaily, who owns a recording studio there and kind of made ‘Brazil’ happen. He said that I should do the solo thing, and come to New York to record. I have a situation where I can live wherever I want, so I decided to come here because it felt like the right move.”

Asked why the dreamy-sounding album, which includes a couple of poppy tunes, is titled “Brazil,” she said, “Because, in my mind, it’s the opposite of Iceland. The songs on the album are very much about going away from Iceland. And the name Brazil is just funny. There’s that great Terry Gilliam movie called ‘Brazil’ that has nothing to do with Brazil.”

Although JFDR performances have sometimes featured other musicians playing with her, the Paradise show is a solo gig.

“I’ll be playing some electric guitar and maybe some computer,” she said. “And I’ll sing.”

But that’s about as much as she has planned right now.

“I haven’t decided what I’ll be doing at the show yet, because I’m allowed to do whatever I want,” she explained. “Sometimes when I’m in a situation where it’s calling for something very particular, I tend to do the opposite. So if it’s a really small show, I might play really loud, and if it’s a really big show, I might be very quiet.”

JFDR is part of the annual Reykjavik Calling concert, which also features the Icelandic band Sturla Atlas, and the Boston band Air Traffic Controller. The free show is at the Paradise in Boston on March 9 at 8 p.m.

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